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Wings of Rho Aquilae
The Wings of Rho Aquilae (more often referred simply to as the Wings) was the Astrofleet branch of the Giannist Hierarchy. The Wings were collectively comprised of both civilian as well as military vessels. The astrofleet had a modest beginning with a singular antiquated Star Galleon known as the Absolution, however it soon grew to be one of the largest fleets in the region, comparable in strength to a regional branch of a Mega-conglomerate, though for the first year or so the Wings lacked capital ships. The first such ship commissioned was the WRA Athanasios, a dreadnought, put in service in First Abundance, Year 198. History For the first few months of Year 197, the Starships of Rho Aquilae made up a somewhat makeshift fleet, comprising of poorly-armed or scavenged vessels. This fault quickly came to light during the Battle of Rho Aquilae, when a warlord was able to defeat five colonial ships with merely one well-armed Heavy Star Frigate. After the battle, the then-Colonial Deputy, Gareth Kedvés, saw the importance of having a more competent, organized and militant astrofleet serving the colonial interests. He began a large-scale investment into procuring more warships for the fleet, which he officially renamed to the Wings of Rho Aquilae, giving each vessel the prefix of W.R.A. One of the first acquisitions was made after the Iota Ermina Campaign, when the deputy used the wealth garnered from the invasion to purchase two Aggressor-II Heavy Star Frigates from Acteon Shipbuilding Currents. These became the first true warships of the colony, but both were lost less than a month later during Operation Shellshock. This urged Gareth even further to start up a domestic production of warships, while still continuing to purchase vessels from various other sources. Meanwhile the tradition of repurposing, scavenging or scrapping of hostile vessels continued. Organization The primary class of warships in use were Heavy Frigates, mainly due to their balance of maneuverability and firepower. Some of these were formed into Wing Squadrons, which were designed primarily to deter marauders, pirates or other hostile forces while at the same time being capable of performing offensive strikes or serving as line ships in large-scale battles. The Wings also utilized Sloops-of-War, which were mainly used as support ships and Cutters, which were used either for logistics or as orbital monitors. Each warship in the Wings was controlled by a Wing Captain (or Tiiva Kapten), who answered directly to the Archon, Supreme Commander or Praetor. After the transition from Rho Aquilae to the Giannist Hierarchy, each wing captain of a warship was able vote on the position of Praetor (or Pretoor). The Praetor assumed overall command of all astrofleet assets, with the notable exception of W.R.A. Absolution, which remained solely under the personal command of either the Supreme Commander or Archon. Doctrine The Wings' commanders favored an "indirect approach" doctrine in the early days of the astrofleet, lobbying for the procurement of heavy frigates of "laser gunship" chassis, mostly from outside sources. Cost-effectiveness was the most important factor, and the colony did not care so much where the warships came from, so long as an astrofleet could be mustered to defend the colony from the threat of Innovaganix. The primary suppliers of these warships were Luther Systems (starting in 198) Acteon Shipbuilding Currents (the first supplier) and the Baikonur Stellar Initiative (in the latter case mostly indirectly, as a colony of the Market Coalition Trade Guild). In the early months of Year 198, however, a great portion of the Wings' warships were being built domestically. Nonetheless, the variety of different, often poorly synergized, ship designs in the fleet influenced overall doctrine for years to come. In the Wings, drones were generally carried on heavy frigates (similar to United Armada doctrine) which were specifically built to serve the purpose (rather unlike UA frigates). Drones were considered an integral part of a proper combat fleet, along with sloops for flanking maneuvers, reconnaissance, and pursuit. The backbone of the fleet however were always traditional heavy frigates centered around laser firepower. These were almost always Acteon-built (or inspired by Acteon designs), particularly the Aggressor series of warships. Organization The basic unit of maneuver in the Wings was the Wing Squadron, each of which was lead by a Wing Commander (or in Rho Aquilaen parlance, Tiiva kapten). This formation was not equivalent to the United Armada's squadrons, and behaved more like battlefleet formations, albeit on a smaller scale. Generally a wing squadron consisted of a flagship, always the most capable combat ship of the unit and the control center of the Wing Commander, alongside two "combat elements" which were always very capable combat ships in their own right. Each of those starships had a "wingman" escort, the "support elements" which generally were second-rate frigates. Finally, there was the reconnaissance, pursuit, and maneuver division of the squadron, which usually were sloops-of-war. In the early days of the Wings, many of these sloops-of-war were of Uhara design and manufacture, captured as prizes during the Iota Ermina Campaign. Finally, every squadron always had a logistics galleon attached. Not all ships were organized into squadrons, with most of the fleet's combat vessels being in reserve at any given time. Starships This is a list of all starships that were in service of the Wings of Rho Aquilae (naval prefix WRA), in descending order, by chassis size. {|align=center border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" width=750px |- |style=background:#DCDCDC align=center width=150px|'Name' |style=background:#DCDCDC align=center width=150px|'Class/Type' |style=background:#DCDCDC align=center |'Notes' |- |WRA Athanasios |Star Dreadnought |Second flagship of the fleet. |- |WRA Absolution |Yak-class Star Galleon |First flagship of the fleet. Heavily upgraded and modified, never decommissioned |- |WRA Katechon |Galleon |Captured Innovaganix wargalleon |- |WRA Kenosis |Galleon |Captured Innovaganix wargalleon |- |WRA Adiaphora |Galleon |Exploration/science starship |- |WRA Metousiosis |Nogai-class Heavy Frigate (licensed, drone carrier variant) | |- |WRA Kyrios |Heavy frigate | |- |WRA Phronema |Nogai-class Heavy Frigate (licensed, drone carrier variant) | |- |WRA Ousia |Heavy frigate | |- |WRA Paraclete |Nogai-class Heavy Frigate (licensed drone carrier) | |- |WRA Nous |Heavy frigate | |- |WRA Antilegomena |Vindicator-class Heavy Frigate |Captured from Triterra |- |WRA Agraphon |Vindicator-class Heavy Frigate |Captured from Triterra |- |WRA Apostolos |Heayy frigate | |- |WRA Koinonia |Heavy frigate | |- |WRA Episcopy |Aggressor II-class Heavy Frigate | |- |WRA Epectasy |Aggressor II-class Heavy Frigate | |- |WRA Avenger |Heavy frigate | |- |WRA Adelphopoiesis |Heavy frigate | |- |WRA Acephali |Aggressor II-class Heavy Frigate |Lost in the Skirmish at Iota Zulu |- |WRA Agapetae |Aggressor II-class Heavy Frigate |Lost in the Skirmish at Atodes |- |WRA Chozanti | |Captured Uhara sloop-of-war |- |WRA Chaztak | |Captured Uhara sloop-of-war |- |WRA Zytokot | |Captured Uhara sloop-of-war |- |WRA Azkepchic | |Captured Uhara sloop-of-war |- |WRA Tototchic | |Captured Uhara sloop-of-war |- |WRA Nepsis |Sloop-of-war |First domestically-produced sloop-of-war |- |WRA Iconodule |Sloop-of-war | |- |WRA Sloth |Star cutter |Logistics |- |WRA Aegis |Star cutter |Defense monitor |- |WRA Phalanx |Star cutter |Defense monitor |- |WRA Seraphim |Star cutter |Defense monitor |- |WRA Shieldbearer |Star cutter |Defense monitor |- |WRA Tortoise |Star cutter |Logistics |- |WRA Aspis |Star cutter |Defense monitor |- |WRA Snail |Star cutter |Logistics |- |WRA Elephant |Star cutter |Logistics |- |WRA Mule |Star cutter |Logistics |- Category:GH articles Category:Astrofleets